Al-anwar Newspaper English news in Australia
There is no doubt as to the severity of this beating. Australia came to Hobart believing they were the cricketing equal of South Africa, and have had that belief crushed. Steve Smith was quite beside himself at the television post-match interview; the blood drained from his face, the answers to questions coming in a gentle voice from a mind reeling in shock. The world had closed in on him and there was only darkness. In the dressing room, young men were silent while older sweats went about their efforts at consolation.
Along the corridor, Faf du Plessis sat calm, satisfied but not yet sated: he wants 3-0 on Australian soil. He truly thought these results possible because the once mighty Australian aura has so clearly gone. The recent one-day series confirmed that in his mind. Momentum in sport is overrated, some say; Faf thinks it is the grail. On their own turf the South Africans won five 50-over matches in a row against the reigning world champions and most of them in style and with space to spare. But to win three consecutive Tests down under would be something else. If it happens, the selectors would be tempted to give the job to the stand-in captain job full time.
The gulf between the sides is best represented by the fresher, brighter South African faces and their levels of technique and concentration. Each moment of the two matches in Perth and Hobart has appeared as an opportunity for – in no particular order – Quinton de Kock, Temba Bavuma, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Stephen Cook and Kyle Abbott. Contrast these players with Joe Burns, Adam Voges, Callum Ferguson and Nathan Lyon, to name but four, who look down at heel. There can be no excuses and neither did Smith suggest any. The hosts have been completely out-thought and outgunned by the visitors. The fallout is spectacular. Nothing like it has been seen since West Indies caused all manner of chaos in the 1980s.
Graeme Smith was in Sydney last week and got stuck in. The Aussies have lost a bit of ticker and are plagued by self-doubt, he said. The Sheffield Shield has lost its clout, he added, and the rotation of players does neither the team, nor the game at large, any good. Nothing like kicking a carcass. Smith was in town to be honoured by the Bradman Foundation, a recognition only afforded four other cricketers from overseas – Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sir Richard Hadlee. Set deep into the memory of all Australians is the sight of Smith, with a broken hand, gladiatorially emerging from the Sydney Cricket Ground pavilion in an attempt to deny Australia a last-gasp victory in a Test series his South African team had already won. It is that sort of ticker he refers to. He nearly pulled it off too.
The self-doubt thing is a product of defeat, there is no avoiding it. Lose enough times and you begin to wonder about your place in the order of things. The surprise is that the Australian selectors have not invested in youth. Older blokes know too much and fear failure; younger blokes embrace it and have a go. The selectors might say that the youth out there has not justified a go, but the options are limited, so they may just as well take a look.
